Battle of Tzamandos

The Battle of Tzamandos was a battle of the Arab-Byzantine wars that occurred on 14 March 769. The battle occurred when the Addauid emir of Antioch Hasan and an army of 1,700 Arab troops attacked a much smaller Byzantine army of 766 troops at Tzamandos in central Anatolia (near the present-day town of Melikgazi, Turkey). The Arabs won the battle, completely routing the Byzantine army, but Hasan was slain in the battle, among the 40 Arabs to be killed in action. Hasan's death was a blow to the Arab cause, and the battle's only significance lay in that the Arab commander was slain; the Byzantines sent larger forces to Anatolia and defeated the Arabs.